New Philly police forensics lab will be in University City, Parker administration says
The selection kicks off a new, monthslong phase of planning, development, and construction. Securing funding and selecting a location has been a process steeped in politics and beset by delays.
The Philadelphia Police Department’s new forensics lab will be located on Market Street in University City, a decision the city made after spending years securing funding and evaluating real estate options.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker announced the location of the new crime lab Thursday during her budget address, saying the new lab to be located at 4101 Market St. will “mark a giant step forward in forensics technology and crime-solving ability for our police department.”
“We’re embracing technology to improve our performance,” she said. “The police department will move forward with a new forensics lab to assist the force with forensics investigations to help solve crime.”
The selection will kick off a new, monthslong phase of planning, development, and construction that will culminate with the police department opening an expanded lab for handling and testing guns, drugs, DNA, cell phones, and other forms of evidence. Officials have long said that replacing the city’s current crime lab, which is undersized and outdated, will allow for law enforcement to solve crimes faster and build stronger cases.
Elected leaders including former Mayor Jim Kenney and District Attorney Larry Krasner have been advocating for a new police crime lab for years, including amid a pandemic-era surge in gun violence when officials said it was a potential solution to improve clearance rates of shootings.
Since then, securing funding and selecting a location has been a process steeped in politics and beset by delays related to both the pandemic and the transition last year to a new mayor. Kenney’s administration secured millions of taxpayer dollars from the state to pay for forensics equipment in 2022, and the following year, 14 firms applied to house the site — but he didn’t select a space before leaving office.
After Parker took over as mayor last year, the city set aside millions more to construct the lab and conducted site visits at three locations that were finalists: the one in University City, as well as one in North Philadelphia and another near the police headquarters on North Broad Street.
In April, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel told an increasingly impatient City Council that the process of selecting a space was in the “homestretch.”
Nearly a year later, Parker said her administration plans to spend $67 million over the next five years for the lab and related costs, which she called “money well spent.”
City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, whose district includes University City and who had advocated for the crime lab to locate there, said Thursday that the space was already outfitted to be a laboratory and that putting it in West Philly’s burgeoning life sciences corridor is “the best spot for it.”
“I’m so excited that it’s finally a done deal,” she said. “Our forensic staff here in the city of Philadelphia are fantastic. They’ve been doing everything they can, more than they can, with not the best set of resources they deserve.”